Taking Cover- Dream Catcher Part 2

Suddenly, it was three in the morning and Casey found himself wide awake from the most amazing dream. His dog Gun was staring into his face. The dog shook his head and quietly nudged his torso as he lay on the bed. “The dog was letting me know he was restless too”, he thought to himself. Casey began looking about the small room. The brilliant twilight that streamed in from the night sky lit up his entire belongings.

Not needing much space, just a bed, pillow to lay his head, a chair to hang the motorcycle saddle bags, and somewhere to hang a few meager shirts and jeans. All shoes and his boots sit down stairs by the back door. Silvia, who takes care of the house does not allow anyone to wear shoes in the house. Gun seemed even more restless than usual. That darn dog usually only went out during the day and never bothered anyone otherwise. Casey did not want to stop looking out the window at the night sky. This was the reason he chose this room over the bigger ones. The previous owner must have built this room for his daughter or some female they could keep watch over. The view from the back yard was a spectacular part of the design. You had a great view of the night sky. This town lacked modern lighting like a big city. You could see almost every star in the sky. Casey felt as though he was always sleeping outside, like when he used to run the open roads.

The dog and he made their way quietly down the back servant staircase. No one in the house was allowed this access except he and Silvia that lead to a private screened in porch off the back corner of the house. This was an old servant’s entrance and the house was never altered since it had been built.
Little Savage

As I sat on the steps outside I noticed a light came on in the upstairs garage apartment.Casey began to think about doing some much needed work on the staircase leading up to their door. He did not want Maria, the child he called little savage to fall through the railing one day. The door shortly opened and down came the little girl all dressed in her full Indian dress. Silvia, her mother must have gone back to sleep since he saw the light go back out after her daughter reached Gun in the center of the yard.

The original owner, Roger Whitney had put in an old fountain he picked up at a salvage yard. His last wife tried to put in a garden to spruce up the place before she passed away, and had always wanted a beautiful English garden with a fountain. I went a step further and put in a few lights about the yard to help see if you were out after dark. Many of the old pathways were cracking and coming up at the corners. When Casey first arrived he found Whitney would sometimes roam around out here at night drunk. After all he did not want him to fall and break his neck. After Silvia and Maria moved in it helped provide more security for them. You might also see if strangers ever entered the alley and be alarmed if one might try to break in the shop of the downstairs garage. The yard had no fence and as a matter of fact most houses in this town or outskirts ever put up barriers to keep trespassers out.

I quickly noticed Gun and little Savage dancing bizarrely about the flickering light and fountain as if an Indian hunting party had returned, celebrating with a ritual dance around a campfire, and making loud panting noises. Gun was jumping, stopping every now and then, pawing at the grass, and then rolling across and under her in a playful manner. I could swear he was part wolf as his eyes lit up a golden color when he passed through the light. Matter of fact he could have been the wolf in my dream Casey thought to himself. Maria was pointing and covering her mouth and would roll over Gun every now and then. I only heard whimpers from Gun as she bounced right back off his stomach. Little Savage had not spoken since she had come her two years ago, and it was nice to see them play together.

The two began to pull me into their trance. My thoughts went to Silvia and her past. To the day when she showed upon my doorstep with child in tow saying she had heard he needed a care taker. This had come from her aunt Estella who worked at the local tobacco store on the outskirts of town where Casey would stop for cigars on his way home from the bar. She did not care what it paid and just asked if I had a place for her and Maria to live. Silvia had left the town for a short while to attend a junior college in Wichita to train as a nurse. I am not sure who the father is, but I do know by the looks of the bruises about her neck and arms that he was a rough and mean son of bitch. Casey felt sorry for her and let them move in over the garage and she has been running his boarding house ever since. She also works two days a week at a local nursing home and helps out at a local senior center giving flu shots and checking blood pressure for the locals. At some point Silvia had gone to nursing school in a bigger city and returned to this dump of a town.

After hearing a noise my mind began to wander about the shadows of the yard, house and garage area. I caught a glance of a shadow at the corner of the shop near the street. I got up and went to see who and what they wanted. Whom ever it was had disappeared quickly and I turned back to my two warriors. Returning to the center of the yard to join them as the sun was coming up I saw Maria curled up with Gun and they had fallen asleep. The light came on in the garage apartment, so I scooped up the female savage and carried her upstairs. Silvia opened the door and headed over to the house to start breakfast and her morning cleaning. I volunteered to put the girl to bed and told her I was headed into the shop to start early.

As I laid Maria into the bed a notebook of drawings fell into the floor. I bent down to pick them up and noticed that there were drawings of an Indian on what appeared to be a hill top. Drawings of horses running, a wolf, and even a picture of a little girl dancing with a wolf were among them. Curious I decided I would ask Silvia about them later. Casey said out loud, “I can see how she would as a child draw images of herself and Gun could act out such a childish whim. But how could she have known about my dream in such detail”? He returned to the main house and dressed to start work in the shop underneath Silvia’s quarters, and knew Maria would be safe while he was on watch.